Why is relapse prevention a research priority?

While progress has been made in the development of treatments for alcohol dependence, a significant proportion of treated patients relapse within a year of quitting drinking. Research indicates that 90% of treated alcoholics have at least one drink within 3 months of treatment, and 45-50% return to pretreatment drinking levels within one year.

Why do people relapse?

Numerous studies indicate that psychosocial stress and the experience of negative emotions, such as anger, depression, and anxiety, are commonly associated with relapse. Other factors that contribute to the likelihood of a return to drinking are interpersonal conflict, social pressure, and craving.

What does the project offer?

The purpose of this study is to find out whether participating in a relapse prevention program based on the principles of mindfulness will improve your capacity to tolerate and regulate craving, stress and other distressing emotions, and improve your overall emotional well-being. Eligible participants who have recently quit drinking will be asked to attend a free 8-week training program, and to complete assessments four times so that the research team can evaluate the effectiveness of the classes.

What is mindfulness?

Mindfulness generally means moment-to-moment, non-judgmental awareness of one’s present moment experience. The goal of this learning mindfulness is to be able to be aware of your experience without necessarily labeling it as good or bad, and to be able to choose your responses rather than reacting out of habit. Mindfulness has been shown in other studies to reduce stress, to improve mood, to improve health, and even to improve immunity and increase brain activity associated with a positive outlook.

Why 'mindfulness' as a relapse prevention technique?

While current approaches to relapse prevention include strategies for managing relapse triggers, our premise is that mindfulness training will improve outcomes in recently treated alcoholics by providing skills for affect regulation that are fundamentally different from and complementary to currently emphasized approaches to coping and mood regulation.